ABSTRACT
Russian diplomacy with its diplomatic institutions dates back to the 16th century. Over time, the tradition inherited from Byzantium was replaced by European-style secular diplomacy. Both radical institutional and substantial change occurred after the October 1917 revolution. However, over time, the “realpolitik” took over, even if its ideological peculiarity persisted until “perestroika.” After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of creating a multipolar world became increasingly important for Russia’s foreign policy. In particular, there emerged departments of new challenges and threats, human rights issues, economic cooperation, and a crisis management center. Relations with the former Soviet republics are among the foreign policy priorities. Some new diplomatic structures were created in order to develop multilateral interstate cooperation. Significant attention was paid to economic and energy diplomacy and public and network diplomacy. Para-diplomacy – i.e., the international activity of the Russian subnational units – acquired a new profile. Following the results of the 2014 events, Russian leaders decided on a new foreign course called Turn to the East. A rather intense cooperation was started with China, ASEAN, and some other Asian countries. However, Russian leaders have often reiterated their intention to improve relations with the United States and the European countries and to develop cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. The chapter is aimed at revealing the approaches, notions, and main trends in Russia’s diplomacy studies, including Russia’s interpretations of such fundamental terms as diplomacy, public diplomacy, non-governmental diplomacy, economic diplomacy, digital diplomacy, gender diplomacy, and para-diplomacy. Discussing the state of the art in Russia’s studies, the chapter estimates how these terms intersect with diplomatic practice.
